Holland seemed to understand her decision, if not the reasons behind it. Reassured that her idea wasn’t entirely ridiculous after all, Claudia began to relax as Holland started to apply foundation. She only tensed a little as the conversation immediately became a personal question. Claudia was aware she had described her year as terrible, so she could hardly fault Holland for their enquiry, but it wasn’t a topic on which she wanted to focus when she was trying to exude confidence.

“Lots of things,” she replied vaguely, then immediately suspected this gave the impression of selfishly requesting a favor without any indication of being thankful. That wasn’t the person Claudia wanted to be. She was keen to be more assertive, not less considerate. Besides, discussing something negative with Holland might be good practise for future interactions with other students. Claudia liked Holland. She didn’t really understand them or anything about their life, but Danny had been talking about Holland since he came home for midterm in his first year at RMI, so by now their irregularities barely registered with the third year.

“At midterm some boys I’ve known my whole life were making fun of me,” she spoke matter-of-factly, realising that it sounded inconsequential. “It was entirely humiliating,” she added, then elected not to focus on her pathetic phrasing and continued onwards. “Then I argued with Marley, and with Connor, and then Marley did something that... I don’t think we can be friends anymore,” she said with a sigh that effectively conveyed her discontent. Claudia’s affection for Marley had become so much stronger than the Cetus student had ever anticipated; she had very much enjoyed having a close, female friend, and she was severely disappointed to be forced to abandon that connection.

Today, Holland was really feeling that double eyeliner was the way to go. They weren’t there yet, but black and turquoise would look really nice with Claudia’s outfit. The third-year seemed to prefer ... more

(OOC: To accommodate recent, relevant additions to the Drew/Connor thread in Cetus - which occurred chronologically before this theater thread - please assume that in her last post here, Claudia also ... more

Ah, yes. Holland was very aware that Marley was going on a date. They were aware because when they’d gotten back to Lyra after Ancient Runes one day, Marley had been waiting outside their door. She... more

“Why does that mean you and Marley can’t be friends anymore?” Holland asked. As often happened when someone questioned her about her beliefs, Claudia experienced an instinctive reaction, rather than... more

Holland, admittedly, had had similar thoughts related to Marley’s date with Teal. The younger Lyra had said that she liked Teal but wasn’t sure whether she like-liked her, but regardless that boys... more

When Holland talked, they never sounded condescending or patronizing, even when they were telling Claudia something new (as happened often, because they mostly talked about make-up, and Claudia had... more

Holland hadn’t meant to break Claudia by introducing her to the concept of plurisexuality, but it seemed for a moment that they had. How could Claudia be a teenager and not know that people could be... more

Closing her eyes and saying nothing while Holland continued to apply her make-up was very soothing for Claudia. It had been an especially tumultuous second part of the year, and perhaps she’d been... more

“It might,” Holland agreed. There was some risk of pain attached to doing most things, and that didn’t make those things not worth doing. Marley’s intentions weren’t to hurt Teal; Holland had always... more

Risk was a very personal concept. Claudia was taking a risk today with her statement dress and make up, but the risk was low: most people probably wouldn’t notice the change in her look, and of the... more

Holland chose the red lipstick—if you wanted to make a statement, why speak quietly?—and offered it to Claudia to apply. She had the lighted wall-mounted mirror to use in guiding her application of... more

Holland handed Claudia a red lipstick. It wasn’t a shade she would have chosen for herself, but Claudia trusted Holland’s judgment on make-up, if nothing else. She took it and turned to the mirror,... more